


Queen of Her Domain

by atlas_white



Category: Portal (Video Game)
Genre: ChellDOS, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-08 14:50:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18625471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atlas_white/pseuds/atlas_white
Summary: Chell had no desire to rule over Aperture, nor to kneel before another.Yet, still she would call the facility her home, and its ruler, her Queen.





	Queen of Her Domain

**Author's Note:**

> Bingo fill for "Forced to Kneel," requested by Debrie on Tumblr.  
> You can request something on my tumblr [@atlas-white.](https://atlas-white.tumblr.com)

  
Chell was stubborn, a force to be reckoned with. Her tenacity was unmatched, indefatigable; her will unbreakable. There was no cruelty that could take the fire from that woman’s eyes, to bring her down as she stood with her head held high and her chest thrust outward with the confidence of someone who had _survived_.

Men had tried and failed to make her kneel. Scientists had tried to rule her life; their creations had tried to take it. 

Perhaps most notable of these was Wheatley, who had attempted both; demanding subservience and disposability as he had endured it. He had demanded that she kneel, and when she refused, he had tried to force Chell to her knees with his bombs, and spit on her once she was down. 

She could still remember the echo of his words, the sharpness of his indignation leaving cuts that lingered. "What? You're still alive? You've got to be joking me!" The memory rang with that hateful edge to his voice, as if she did not have the right to be alive, because he had decided that she should die on her knees, and anything else should be considered a joke.

Ah, but this was a memory of triumph: she would not die, and she would certainly never kneel to the likes of him. She would tear open the very heavens and banish him to the stars above before she would ever let her will be bent to the whims of that false king. She was the one who had put him in the throne, like a fool, tempted by promises of freedom, but she would be the one to set things right by removing him from it once more.

There was only room, she knew, for one monarch of Aperture. It was not Chell, who had no desire to lord over these unhallowed halls or to prove her own might over their occupants. It was certainly not Wheatley, whose place among the stars was far more literal than the poetic hopes of ancient kings. No, there was but one Queen whose reign was both absolute and eternal, whose eye of gold seared into Her subjects and commanded respect that even her temporary deposition would not rob her of.

She was the one who had held Chell’s life in her hands after the bombs. She had been the one to pull her back from death; for all her big talk, without a moment’s hesitation. She had proven her worthiness to be put back on her throne, and left a mark of her own with Chell.

This brought the former test subject to where she was now; walking the halls of Aperture which had once been her prison. That disgraced and forgotten kingdom of robots, made by men and cast aside the same as Chell herself, was actually not a bad place to stay, once the threat of fire and mashy spike plates was gone. It was incredibly roomy, comfortable when you got used to it, and the residential areas were surprisingly well finished.

Chell knew that it bothered GLaDOS. The A.I. couldn’t understand why Chell would come back, and Chell was happy to keep that to herself. She was a woman of secrets, after all. It was poor GLaDOS who wanted to know everything.

They were opposites in that way, really. GLaDOS served only Science, and Chell, well, she didn’t serve anybody. Not even her Queen. She only lived in her home, carving out a space for herself where her kind had dwelled before her, and coming and going as she pleased. 

GLaDOS had not expected this from her. She had expected her to leave for good, to wander the earth find her new disasters somewhere far, far away. Maybe she’d thought that Chell was just so wild that she could live on the land alone, running naked through the woods like some feral animal without a care in the world. 

Maybe she just hadn’t really known how bad the situation had gotten out there.

Whatever the case, she had been shocked to see Chell return, and she was not good at hiding it. It was obvious even while she made her quips and sharp remarks, and ultimately she did not attempt to stop the human from doing what she wanted.

"Well. You'll do what you want no matter what I say," GLaDOS had snipped, weaving slightly from side to side. She had been pretending not to care one way or the other, but Chell thought she could hear relief in her voice. "If you really want to give up your freedom, then that's on you. But don't accuse me of keeping you here and start trashing my facility again."

Chell shook her head with the hint of a smile. _I don't intend to give up my freedom,_ she'd signed in reply, _I would just like to make a home here to enjoy it_.

The difference was what baffled GLaDOS, and comforted Chell. It was the reason the human could be here in the first place, because anything short of freedom was unacceptable to her. She very often went topside, but she would return every single time, and GLaDOS was always there waiting, the Queen magnanimously allowing Chell respite in her domain.

Her returns were getting more frequent; they were getting longer. GLaDOS's royal company was pleasant, her quips growing softer every time they conversed. 

Even the cores enjoyed having Chell around, and Chell, once viewing them as nothing but an annoyance, had grown rather fond of them as well. They were curious personalities, the subjects of GLaDOS's kingdom, and they did not mind serving Chell as well. In fact, they generally seemed to like it, as they savoured her company. It made her position in their midst seem less like that of the traveler and more like that of... what was the word for it? 

Chell almost did not want to give it a shape, but she was finding it harder and harder to deny that the role she played in Aperture, and that Aperture— GLaDOS— played in her life was too great and irrefutable. It was important, it was tremendous. 

This place was her home. 

"You've made yourself comfortable, haven't you?" GLaDOS asked as she entered her chamber once again, though her tone lacked any sharpness that the question might convey.

Chell just smiled at her, approaching without any fear, any hesitation. She had never been afraid of that great and beautiful machine. She had always been her companion, since before either of them had known, let alone cared to admit it. It had taken so much to bring them here. They had been through so much.

 _Shouldn't I?_ Chell signed, tilting her head slightly to one side. _I should think that a good thing._

GLaDOS tossed her great head in a gesture equivalent to a shrug. "I've wondered about that myself. I still haven't come up with a definitive answer."

 _I thought you had the answer to everything,_ Chell teased her, grin only widening, her hips tilting slightly.

GLaDOS gave a huff in reply. "Most everything. Some questions don't have definitive objective answers, you know. Like, 'is cloning immoral?' We'll never know, because that's purely subjective, as morality isn't _scientific_."

 _So, you mean to say that you don't know how you feel about it?_ Chell asked earnestly. After all this time?

GLaDOS's eye turned down towards her, and it burned like fire and shined like gold. It was majestic, in a way, like all of her. 

"It's just like you to be so chatty when you can't even talk," she admonished, "Of course I know how I feel about the matter. I just don't have a definitive answer as to whether you should be as comfortable as you are here. You don't test, you don't contribute to science, you just have the run of the place."

Chell stepped closer, daring, and reached out so that her fingertips brushed against the cool, smooth metal of GLaDOS's faceplate. She could swear that she felt it shudder under her touch.

"I let you have the run of the place." GLaDOS concluded, her voice faltering.

 _Yes, you do_ , Chell agreed one-handedly. She pulled back so that she could sign, _Don't worry; I know who the real Queen is._

GLaDOS sniffed, trying to cover for herself. "You'd better not forget it. I could throw you out any time I wanted, you know."

 _I know,_ Chell answered. What she knew was that GLaDOS had to remain in control, as unaccustomed to this kind of mutual good will as Chell was herself, cast out the same way by the men who had tried to force her to kneel and bend to their desires. Not so different as either of them would claim in the moment.

GLaDOS lifted herself a little higher from the floor, and seemed like she was about to tell Chell she was right to keep it in mind, but had realized that it would be tantamount to repeating herself. She settled for nodding her approval.

Chell rose onto her toes. _What, cat got your tongue?_

"First you call me a Queen and then you are rude to me," GLaDOS replied irritably, "You should be showing me proper respect for a Queen, you know, not giving me this sass." 

Oh, was that so? Chell's smile shifted to one side, becoming a smirk. If that was the game GLaDOS wanted to play, then she would play it to win. She would not let her choice of words be twisted so easily against her.

In a sweeping movement, Chell put her hand to her waist, and then bowed deeply, keeping her knees and back perfectly straight. Though it wasn't the same as kneeling, it surprised her; here she was bowing politely in front of someone else, and even she barely knew whether she was joking or being serious.

She came back up to find GLaDOS visibly taken aback.

 _Your Majesty,_ Chell signed to catch herself, taking advantage of her temporary silence. _How may I serve you?_

GLaDOS stayed pulled up, her eye wandering before any words came to her. 

"How unexpected," she said at length, "You could be quite the charmer, if you tried."

Chell clicked her feet together, perfectly aligned, standing rigidly with her chest thrust out like a knight in the royal court. Was that what she was now? Not the traveler, not the monarch, but the knight, the protector of the Queen who would wander but never stray.

Yes, that was it. She knew where her home was, and she had fought for it, too. The title suited her well; why not embrace it? 

_Then I will try,_ she answered. 

GLaDOS leaned down to Chell, slowly, as if bestowing favor. There was a long pause, as if they were both waiting for something that neither of them could name. Neither of them was sure if she should be the one to take that plunge first, because then she would run the risk of being vulnerable. So neither of them moved for some long seconds, which stretched on as if threatening to become minutes.

Chell was the one to make the first move. She reached out once more to touch GLaDOS's faceplate, and GLaDOS, to her abject surprise, closed her eye. 

The human had never seen it closed before; it was a sign of lowered defenses, leaving GLaDOS either truly unable to see or simply giving the illusion of it, and either way demonstrating a complete trust in Chell that neither one of them could have thought possible.

Chell touched her forehead to GLaDOS's faceplate in a reciprocation of the gesture, defenseless in the mercy of her Queen, her heart swelling with emotion that she did not yet know how to fully express. 

They had come to be at ease with each other, at peace. A transition had taken place, silently, over the Queen and her Knight, and whether or not Chell named it, there could be no doubt now what existed between them. 

It was not Aperture, but _GLaDOS_ that was her home.

 

 


End file.
